Unit 3-3: Prescribing for Anxiety-Based Disorders Flashcards
where do benzos bind?
GABA
How are the serotonin and norepinephrine systems related?
They have numerous reciprocal connections; a modification in one affects the other.
What is the role of norepinephrine in emotional memory?
It affects the amygdala’s beta-adrenergic receptors, causing emotionally charged events to be recorded more permanently in memory.
How does GABA hyperpolarize a neuron?
By favoring the influx of negatively charged chloride ions when activated.
What effect do anxiogenic GABA modulators have?
They reduce the effectiveness of GABA, decreasing chloride ion permeability and increasing anxiety.
How does the amygdala influence the experience of emotions?
Through connections to the cortex that affect attention, perception, and memory of dangerous situations.
What distinguishes the implicit and explicit memory systems during a traumatic experience?
The amygdala: records emotional responses
hippocampus: records details like context and time.
What are the two pathways of fear processing in the brain?
Thalamo-amygdala pathway (short route) and thalamo-cortico-amygdala pathway (long route).
What does the thalamo-amygdala pathway do?
It conveys a fast, rough impression of danger, activating the amygdala quickly.
What role does the thalamo-cortico-amygdala pathway play?
It processes information in the cortex to assess if a stimulus is a real threat before reaching the amygdala.
How does the hippocampus contribute to fear conditioning?
It encodes context and helps learn about the dangerousness of stimuli and surrounding objects.
What is conditioned fear?
A phenomenon where a neutral stimulus becomes associated with an aversive stimulus, producing anxiety.
What is an example of conditioned fear?
The sound of thunder triggering memories of a battlefield for a former soldier.
The sound of thunder triggering memories of a battlefield for a former soldier.
Extinction involves learning something new that masks the original fear, while forgetting erases the memory.
Which part of the brain is primarily involved in fear conditioning?
amygdala
What role does the ventromedial prefrontal cortex play in anxiety?
It is involved in fear extinction and the inhibition of inappropriate behavioral responses.
What is a classic symptom of frontal lobe damage?
Inability to cease inappropriate behaviors.
How does the prefrontal cortex relate to stress hormone levels?
It participates in a feedback loop that lowers stress hormone levels when they are too high.
Pharmacological treatment for anxiety disorders focuses on what neurotransmitters?
GABA, serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine.
What is the primary role of dopamine in the brain?
It is involved in motricity, attentiveness, motivation, learning, memorization, and identifying natural rewards.
How do some substances imitate natural neuromediators?
They bind to the receptors of natural neuromediators (e.g., morphine binds to endorphin receptors, nicotine to acetylcholine receptors).
Which drug primarily increases dopamine in the synapses?
cocaineeeeeeeee
What are benzodiazepines?
Anxiolytics that can have hypnotic or amnesia-inducing effects, such as diazepam (Valium) and clonazepam (Rivotril).
What is the primary characteristic of benzodiazepines regarding plasma binding?
they are highly protein-bound in the plasma
